CLARKSVILLE, Tenn.— The start of the season could have gone better for Austin Peay women’s basketball.

The Lady Govs opened their season and home slate Friday when they hosted Miami (OH). Despite jumping ahead early, APSU’s lead fell apart in the fourth quarter as they failed to find ways to force the ball into the paint, leaving the Redhawks to capture the 73-58 win.

Here are the three things to know from Austin Peay’s first loss.

Defense is going to make or break the Lady Govs: Austin Peay was leading the game until Miami was able to go on a 10-0 run that sealed APSU’s loss late in the game. Every other quarter, Austin Peay was able to get ahead and make those necessary stops, even keeping the game tied at halftime. “We’ve just got to stop the other team on defense fully throughout the game. We can’t just stop them one half and not the next,” said senior Beth Rates.

Wealth of shooters, but still need baskets: Austin Peay was able to spread the ball around and see points from everyone out on the floor and a good portion of the bench helping to make up for the heavy load that Tiasha Gray used to pull in. However, the other big scorer from last season, wasn’t able to get off as many shots. Tearra Banks saw some heavy coverage as to be expected but without the big threat on the perimeter, there was not as many opportunities to pull a post out. “This is microcosm of what we will see from teams this year,” said women’s basketball coach David Midlick. “People are going to be around Tearra and we are going to have to make some outside shots to take some pressure off of her.”

Ball movement still main focus of the offense: With the absence of guard Tiasha Gray who operated as a game manager and the linchpin to APSU’s offensive movement, the Lady Govs managed to find ways to make it work until late in the fourth, leading to Miami’s big run. “I can’t be too displeased with what we did through three periods. We went through a significant drought and what they need to release is that comes through ball movement and player movement,” Midlick said.